focused primarily on subsistence , and the us forces chose to adopt a mainly defensive posture focused on maintaining the perimeter around toro ##kin ##a . in late 1944 , as part of plans to free us troops up for the philippines campaign , the australian ii corps — consisting of mainly militia troops under the command of lieutenant general stanley sa ##vi ##ge — took over responsibility for allied operations on bo ##uga ##in ##ville from the american xiv corps . australian forces began arriving on the island between november and december 1944 , initially establishing themselves around the us base at toro ##kin ##a . due to inaccurate intelligence , sa ##vi ##ge mistakenly believed that the japanese forces on the island numbered just 17 @
focused primarily on subsistence, and the us forces chose to adopt a mainly defensive posture focused on maintaining the perimeter around torokina. in late 1944, as part of plans to free us troops up for the philippines campaign, the australian ii corps — consisting of mainly militia troops under the command of lieutenant general stanley savige — took over responsibility for allied operations on bougainville from the american xiv corps. australian forces began arriving on the island between november and december 1944, initially establishing themselves around the us base at torokina. due to inaccurate intelligence, savige mistakenly believed that the japanese forces on the island numbered just 17 @